this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. another day, another record — more than 93,000 new cases of coronavirus recorded in the uk in the past 2a hours. as cases jump sharply in the us, the nation's leading expert on health takes note on what's happening in the uk and warns about not getting jabbed. clearly, unvaccinated individuals are really at a high risk of serious involvement, including hospitalisation. a huge setback for britain's prime minister borisjohnson in a key by—election — as his party loses one of its safest parliamentary seats for the first time in almost 200 years.

i hear what the voters are saying in north shropshire and, in all humility, i've got to accept that verdict. and north korea marks ten years since kim jong—un became supreme leader. we begin with more evidence — if any were needed — that the 0micron strain of coronavirus is continuing to spread rapidly around the world.

the headline figures are coming from europe, in particular the uk. in the last 2a hours, for a third successive day, the number of infections has reached a new record high. just over 93,000 cases were confirmed in that time frame — that's nearly 60% more than a week ago. the increase in people being treated in hospital, though, is less dramatic — 163 across the uk, just 2% more. it's unclear whether this means the new variant is weaker or the uk public have gained more protection. in the us, cases are jumping sharply too. america's top expert, says it's vital everyone gets their boosterjab. we are facing a very important delta surge and we are looking over our shoulder and in oncoming 0micron surge. clearly, unvaccinated individuals are really at a high risk of serious involvement, including hospitalisation. the fully vaccinated are doing much better off. the optimum protection is fully vaccinated, plus a boost, so the bottom line of what we have been telling you all along, it is

critical to be vaccinated. if you are vaccinated, it is critical for optimum protection to get boosted. that's the us. let's take a look at europe. in europe, countries are rapidly introducing new measures to try to slow the spread of the 0micron variant. ireland has announced new restrictions, ordering bars and restaurants to close from early on sunday. the moves were introduced despite opposition from a number of lawmakers in the parties of the governing coalition. denmark has also reported new cases at record levels. the government there is closing cinemas, theatres and concert halls, and restricting the opening hours of restaurants. that will start to happen from sunday morning, for at least four weeks. the french prime minister, jean castex, has warned that the 0micron variant will become dominant in the country early next year. france has mobilised the army to help with vaccinations, has banned big public parties

at new year, and new travel restrictions on people coming from the uk are due to come into force in a few hours�* time. with health care systems across europe now starting to come under strain, the president of the european commission says vaccination is the key to fighting 0micron. we know that our health care systems are overstressed right now... in conclusion, the answer can only be to increase vaccination including children above five years old, boosting and projective measures. that has to be the answer we give to this new variant. it's still only been around a month since the 0micron strain was first identified — and scientists are finding out more about it all the time. a study carried out at imperial college in london suggests that the rate of protection given by having been previously infected with covid could be as low as i9%. the overall risk of reinfection — or catching covid again — is 5.4 times greater than with the delta variant. but the study seems to confirm that a third, booster shot, can provide around 85% protection

against severe illness. let's put all of this into context now with professor peter hotez, the dean of the national school of tropical medicine at the baylor college of medicine in texas. he was asked how worried we should be about 0micron over the festive period. we have a few things going on at the same time. first of all we do have... we expected a big delta wave that would be hitting us around this time. we were looking at a pretty severe delta wave injanuary, that is because we have under vaccinated our us population. we have still only vaccinated about 60% cut which means 40% are unvaccinated, still lots of holdouts and we can talk about why, but then when he can to 0micron, based on what happened with alf and delta, where there was a four to six week lag between the peak you were seeing in the uk from the time and picked up in the united

states, we once again thought we had four to six weeks, meaning it would happen in the middle ofjanuary, and unfortunately, it looks like that is not the case. it is now curing up now. tragically, we are going have this combined wave hitting us during the holidays, and then the third piece to this, which not lung people talking about, but one that i'm quite concerned about, even after people get the third immunisation, if they are more than a couple of months out from the third immunisation, we are seeing a fair bit of breakthrough symptomatic illness from the 0micron variant, not so much to get them sick enough to land into hospital but enough to knock out the health care workforce, so they have to stay at home, and i think that's the third piece to this, delta, number one, 0micron surge number two, and this, delta, number one, 0micron surge numbertwo, and in this, delta, number one, 0micron surge number two, and in already depleted health care workforce now going to have to have a lot of absences, which will add to the stress of our already stressed health care system, so a lot to

worry about. we are going to leave 0micron for a moment and come back to britain. a crushing by—election defeat has dealt another blow to the authority of the prime minister, borisjohnson. his conservative party lost a seat it had held for almost 200 years. the result comes in the middle of a turbulent period for mrjohnson, whose party and government have been plagued with allegations of corruption and breaking covid rules. here's what the british prime minister had to say in the wake of his party's defeat. i hear what the voters are saying in north shropshire and, in all humility, i've got to accept that verdict. things have taken one more turn for the worse for borisjohnson in the last couple of hours. the uk's top civil servant, who has been leading the inquiry

into parties at downing street which happened a year ago, potentially in breach of the lockdown rules, has stepped back from that investigation after being linked to a social gathering. an event was held in simon case's own office in whitehall, while london was under lockdown rules. 0ur uk political correspondent nick eardley takes up the story. the biggest event that is happened todayis the biggest event that is happened today is that the conservative party, borisjohnson�*s party, lost this extraordinary lead they had in one of the seats in the uk parliament. they were had by 23,000 votes in 2019, they have lost the seatin votes in 2019, they have lost the seat in a by election by 6000 votes, and that is led to all these questions about borisjohnson�*s authority, his position, how much longer he potentially can stay in power. 0ne longer he potentially can stay in power. one of the reasons there is been attributed to that loss is the continued controversy, the continued leak of stories about allegations of

parties or social gatherings around the uk government this time last year, when london was in lockdown. some of the most serious of those allegations have been about downing street, and to try and stem some of the criticism, borisjohnson put the top civil servant simon case in charge of an inquiry into them. today, it emerged that there was a social gathering in simon case's own private office last year, around christmas time, exactly year ago today, on the 17th of december 2020. that involve people who worked for him, they all got the e—mail inviting them to what was called a christmas party. some took part in the office, summer said to have taken part remotely, but this called into question whether mr case could objectively look at allegations of rule breaking in whitehall if he himself and his team had been linked

to one of these events. in the last half hour, it has been confirmed mr case will no longer oversee the inquiry into those parties, the cabinet office has put out a statement saying he did not participate himself, but he did give a talk to some of those present at the end of his working day, but it just means that this uncomfortable story for boris johnson is just going story for borisjohnson is just going to keep rolling on and it comes at the end of a torrid few weeks for the uk prime minister, which have led many questioning, as i say, his authority and how... thanks to nick for that. busy night down in westminster there.

let's go to california now — and a trial which has been fascinating america with a mix of money, celebrity and supermarket blood testing. it centres around elizabeth holmes — who made a fortune after founding a company which she claimed would revolutionise health care — only to be accused of massive—scale fraud. ms holmes wasjust 19 when she founded theranos in 2003. it promised to develop a "pinprick" blood test that could diagnose over 200 different diseases. at its peak, theranos reportedly raised $400 million in investments. the firm also attracted a high—profile board members such as henry kissinger and former generaljim mattis. she signed deals with the retail giant walgreen — and at one point, she was thought to be the richest woman in america. so how did she finish up facing criminal prosecution? this court case came out of claims her company provided inaccurate test results. 0ne witness said she had been given a false positive for hiv when taking the test in 2015. a conventional test at a clinic three months later came back negative. there have also been clams by a whistle—blower that many of the tests purportedly done by theranos machines were outsourced to conventional testing facilities. ms holmes denies charges of fraud —

she could face 20 years in prison if convicted. i'm joined now by professor robert weisberg from stanford university in california, who is an expert in criminal law. thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you very much for coming on the programme-— the programme. thank you. extraordinary _ the programme. thank you. extraordinary case - the programme. thank you. extraordinary case coming l the programme. thank you. - extraordinary case coming towards it and now. can you just talk us through what the centre, what is at the heart of the prosecution case? the prosecutor put on a powerful evidence that ms holmes lie to investors, light to potential vendors of her product, such as the walgreens pharmacy chain, quite knowingly fabricated data that allegedly supported the efficacy of her product and generally swindled the world, if you will. some of the most devastating testimony came from her own former lab director, who reported, testify, that he told her a numerous times that the claims she was making were not at all supported

by the data, that her lab was producing, and she tried to just brush them off and clearly was looking for a way out and some alternate version of the story that she could sell.— she could sell. given that, then, what is the _ she could sell. given that, then, what is the alternate _ she could sell. given that, then, what is the alternate version - she could sell. given that, then, what is the alternate version of. she could sell. given that, then, i what is the alternate version of the story, what's the main colour of her defence? ,, w ., , story, what's the main colour of her defence? ,, ., , , , defence? she actually is resenting several different versions - defence? she actually is resenting several different versions of - several different versions of herself, and it is almost as if she is asking to pick the jury which everyone works —— presenting several. 0ne everyone works —— presenting several. one of them is the silicon valley story, that laypeople — that is to say people who are not silicon valley experts — have to understand that innovation happens through trial and error and statements she made were aspirational. she also says she didn't have much control over the company and a lot of the bad acts attributed to her really done by her then partner, and indeed her personal partner, who is himself

but on trial. taking that a step further, she put on evidence she had been emotionally abused in a very, very deleterious relationship, that he had virtually taken her mental autonomy away, and things she apparently said, she had no control over, she had been essentially brainwashed. and on some other matters, she did a strain fit of, by soto confessed to the jury, yes, i should not have done that, but i feel really bad about it, as if she is making a plea for sympathy and not for innocence. i is making a plea for sympathy and not for innocence.— is making a plea for sympathy and not for innocence. isee. professor robert weisburg, _ not for innocence. i see. professor robert weisburg, thank _ not for innocence. i see. professor robert weisburg, thank you - not for innocence. i see. professor robert weisburg, thank you for . robert weisburg, thank you for talking us to that. and when the verdict in that case does come through, we will have full analysis of it here on bbc world news. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: counting the cost of last year's wildfires in south america. as many as 17 million animals may

have lost their lives. a 27—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect after four children died in a house fire in south london last night. london fire brigade confirmed that two sets of twin boys aged three and four were the only people in the house when they arrived. an investigation is under way to find out how the blaze began. the thoughts of everyone at the metropolitan police are with the young boys lost their tragic lives in this tragic incident. we know a lot of come to a great shock to the little community, as part of that local community, we are to offer whatever support we can. at 7pm last night, we were called to reports of a fire in a residential property. 0fficers responded to the incident alongside colleagues from the london fire brigade and london avalanche service. this has been confirmed for boys inside, two aged three and two

aged four, or brought out but sadly died. they were all related. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the uk sets another daily record for infections, as more than 93,000 new cases of coronavirus are recorded in the past 2a hours. as cases jump sharply in the us, the nation's leading expert on health, dr fauci, urges everyone to get vaccinated. injapan, at least 27 people are feared dead after a fire broke out in a building in the city of osaka. police say they're investigating whether the fire was started deliberately. officials were alerted to the blaze on friday morning, with footage showing blackened windows on the fourth floor

after it was extinguished. 0ur tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes gave us this update. from what the police and the fire service in osaka are now saying, it is looking more and more likely that this was a deliberate arson attack on this clinic. eyewitnesses have apparently told the police and fire service there that they saw a man in his 50s or 60s entering the building this morning, carrying some sort of container inside a paper bag that was leaking what they said was flammable liquid. this is all anecdotal, it is certainly not confirmed. the identity of the alleged attacker, we have no idea about at this moment. but it sort of does fit together, because all of the people who are dead appear to have been inside this one small clinic on the fourth floor of this building, and it appears that the fire began or was set at the entrance to the clinic, and then took hold very quickly, and because of that, all of the people inside the clinic

essentially had nowhere to go. it is an old building, clearly the fire safety standards for this building were not very good, there was no second fire escape out of the back of the building, so people who were trapped inside the clinic had nowhere to go, they were just overcome by smoke and apparently, you know, died on the spot fairly quickly. the fire services were called out extremely quickly, they were there within minutes, they put out this fire within about half an hour, it was completely out. none of the buildings or other floors were even affected by the fire. so it wasn't really a big fire and that's why it's so shocking to see how many people have apparently died. 0ur our thanks to rupert there with the details of that awful story. lizzie greenwood—hughes has all the sport. hello there. thank you.

sport's battle against the current covid situation is intensifying — with football particularly affected by postponements. the premier league are due to meet on monday to discuss how they can react to the number of games off and deal with fixture congestion. how they deal with re—arranging games and fixture congestion. manchester united, brentford, watford, norwich and leicester all have covid outbreaks in their squads and so their games this weekend are off. as it stands, four of tomorrow's six matches have been postponed, leaving leeds v arsenal and aston villa against burnley. in terms of the competition, two things. one, we need much more clarity. why those schemes are getting not played and what do you need not to play a game? we are playing in the same league, because at the end, the most important thing is that we are able to maintain within the context, the fairness of the competition, and for me, this is a big thing now. in terms of being in my shoes and what _ in terms of being in my shoes and whatl_ in terms of being in my shoes and what i have — in terms of being in my shoes and what i have to do, i have to have

the team — what i have to do, i have to have the team ready in the best way i can in a game _ the team ready in the best way i can in a game to— the team ready in the best way i can in a game to game situation. if i am told anything different, we will follow — told anything different, we will follow them instructions. we have had some — follow them instructions. we have had some cases and the players, we have had _ had some cases and the players, we have had some cases in the staff, so we are _ have had some cases in the staff, so we are certainly feeling into a certain extent, and in my position now, _ certain extent, and in my position now, i'm hoping we have a good 24 hours in _ now, i'm hoping we have a good 24 hours in terms of test results. at the moment, we are ready to go and we are _ the moment, we are ready to go and we are good — the moment, we are ready to go and we are good to play. meanwhile chelsea's wsl match against west ham has been postponed due to a covid outbreak — it follows manchester city's game being called off for the same reason. also, next week's battle of the brits tennis exhibition has been postponed due to the pandemic and the weekend's european rugby union matches have been hit hard by new travel restrictions in france. seven games due to be played between french and british teams this weekend have been postponed. it's after france opted to restrict people coming in from the uk amid concerns over the 0micron variant and two games were also affected by player outbreaks.

now only eight matches from the champions cup and the second tier challenge cup will go ahead. tournament organisers hope the games can be played at a later date. ben stokes says england are not beaten yet. that despite another dominant performance by australia on day two of the second ashes test. the aussies shrugged off the england attack, eventually declaring on 473—9, marnus labuchangne top scoring on 103. in reply, a weary england lost two early wickets — both openers going cheaply as they struggled under the flood lights. they were saved any potential further wickets by a lightning storm which forced them to close early on 17—2. so england face a huge battle to avoid going 2—0 down in the best of five series. it has been a tough two days. we spent a lot of time out in the field, put some overs into our legs, but it was nice to get off the field

there at the end and watch the guys go out and back. 0bviously there at the end and watch the guys go out and back. obviously we came off pretty extreme —— pretty strange circumstances, i am not sure i've been involved in again, by lightning, but we get to come back tomorrow under the natural light, which i think, as you guys would probably agree, is the best time to be a better out in the middle. formula 0ne's new president mohammed ben sulayem has refused to rule out punishing lewis hamilton for missing their awards ceremony in paris. hamilton and mercedes�* team principal toto wolff boycotted the event, in protest of the handling of the title—deciding abu dhabi grand prix last weekend, in which hamilton lost out to max verstappen in controversial circumstances. the rules say the top three drivers in the championship have to attend. ben sulayem said, "forgiveness is always there, but rules are rules." and that's all the sport for now. thanks to lizzie for that. let's go

to the us. let's get the latest on the ghislaine maxwell alleged sexual abuse trial now. a former girlfriend ofjeffrey epstein�*s has testified that she never saw any inappropriate conduct between the late financier and teenage girls. eva andersson, a doctor who dated epstein and is now married to billionaire former hedge fund manager glenn dubin, testified as a witness for the british socialite's defence. maxwell, 59, has pled not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other crimes. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik is in new york. just run us through what happened in court. the just run us through what happened in court. . ., , , , court. the defence has rested its case today. _ court. the defence has rested its case today. and _ court. the defence has rested its case today, and it _ court. the defence has rested its case today, and it comes - court. the defence has rested its case today, and it comes after. case today, and it comes after ghislaine maxwell decided not to take the stand in her own defence, as she stood up and address the judge, she said that there was no need to testify because the prosecution had not proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. so a

very defiant response there from ghislaine maxwell, who has been very involved throughout this whole trial, passing notes to her lawyers during cross—examination of the accusers and others who have testified, understating that she will not tell her side of the story on the stand. of course, that would have been a very risky strategy, opening her up to intense cross—examination by prosecutors, but really this trial is moving incredibly fast. we are now set to have closing statements from both sides on monday. the defence's case, after initially saying they might call 35 witnesses, they rested after calling nine witnesses and none really revealing too much more to help their case. it seems that the defence is really relying on their cross—examination that happened during the prosecution's case of the key four accusers, hoping that they

have shown enough doubt in jurors minds to avoid a conviction for their client, ghislaine maxwell. find their client, ghislaine maxwell. and will cut of interest has this case garnered in the us? == will cut of interest has this case garnered in the us?— will cut of interest has this case garnered in the us? -- what kind of interest? there _ garnered in the us? -- what kind of interest? there is _ garnered in the us? -- what kind of interest? there is intense _ garnered in the us? -- what kind of interest? there is intense interest, | interest? there is intense interest, when you go down to the courthouse, there is a very wide range of personalities, certainly those going into the courthouse, including reporters, documentary makers, authors and just curious members of the public, so being inside the courthouse, i can tell you, especially in the extended overflow rooms, there have been many, many people who have gone on to see if this case would reveal any new insights into the infamous duo. qm. insights into the infamous duo. ok, thanks for that, _ insights into the infamous duo. ok, thanks for that, nada live for us in new york. that's it from me. you can catch up with all the very latest online and on the bbc news app. if you are

online, do get me there online, on twitter. i'm @lvaughanjones i'm lewis vaughan jones i'm lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello there. many parts of scotland and northern england have been sunny today. it did start off really cold, and it stayed chilly all day, but at least we've had the sunshine to compensate. the weather watcher picture behind me shows a lovely sunset there in the wirral. it's been a different story for other areas, particularly across southern parts of england into wales and northern ireland, rather grey, gloomy skies, some mist and murk and also a little bit of drizzle in the air. 0ur area of high pressure is holding onto our weather through the rest of the day and indeed into the weekend. it's going to bring a lot of dry weather overnight. the cloud tending to return to many central areas, some dense mist and fog patches developing as well across northern and eastern england. but under those clear skies, temperatures will be plummeting down to freezing or below, so cold here versus much milder conditions further south,

where we hold the thickest could. very little change into the weekend, our blocking area of high pressure will continue to bring a lot of cloud around. it's going to stay mostly dry, bar the odd spit or drizzle, and it will start to turn a bit cooler, temperatures will be coming down a bit during the course of sunday. saturday, though, again, it's a rather grey picture for large portions of england and wales, northern ireland. best of any brightness, again, across northern and eastern england and up and in towards scotland. some dense fog patches could linger on, you will have to watch out for that. but generally where we have the sunshine feeling quite cool after the cold start, we will see something a little bit milder where the cloud will be thickest. through saturday night, again, many places will be cloudy. there will be some clear spells, central and northern areas, again, a touch of frost and some mist and fog, but where we hold onto the cloud, the thickest of the cloud no lower than 6—8 celsius. sunday is a similar story, a lot of cloud around. should be largely dry, but there will be the odd spot of drizzle here and there, probably the best of

the brightness further north. you will notice the temperatures beginning to edge down a touch. could still see 10 celsius in plymouth, but single figure values elsewhere. monday is a similar story, a lot of dry weather around, quite a bit of cloud and gloominess in places, probably the best of the sunshine through central and northern areas. again, it's going to be a little bit fresher than what we've had over the last couple of days. now, beyond monday, there is a bit? what happens in the run—up to christmas? we've got some cold air moving down from the north versus a milder air moving in from the south, so the uk will become a battleground of the air masses. stay tuned to the forecast.

this is bbc world news,

the headlines for a third successive day, the number of coronavirus infections in the uk has reached a new record high. just over 93—thousand cases were confirmed — that's nearly sixty percent more than a week ago. covid cases have also been rising across europe. denmark, ireland and france are all introducing new measures to try to stop the spread. russia has called on nato to guarantee it will not expand its membership. the us has rejected an offer of direct talks — saying they could only take place with its european allies present. the uk's top civil servant has removed himself from an inquiry into alleged christmas parties held at downing street during last year's lockdown. an event was held in simon case's office — his spokesperson said he played no part in it.

ten o'clock.